COMM 226 Using information systems to improve business processes Chitu Okoli Associate Professor in Business Technology Management John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, Montréal 1

What Is a Business Process? Sequence of activities for accomplishing a function –Activities are tasks within a business process 2-2

Processes vs. procedures Process: –Sequence of activities for accomplishing a function Procedure: –Instructions for human beings to follow in order to carry out their role within a process Information systems –Hardware (computers) + software (instructions for computers) –People (human actors) + procedures (instructions for people) –Data (raw material for useful information) 2-3

How Do Structured and Dynamic Processes Vary? 2-4

How Can Management Improve Processes? Process Improvement –Process Objectives –Process Measures –Also called key performance indicators (KPI) 5-5

Activities in one business process (sales order) and the corresponding information systems

How Can Information Systems Be Used to Improve Processes? 5-7

How Can Process Management Principles Improve Processes? 5-8

Six Sigma: Example of a process management principle 5-9

Six Sigma: Example of a process management principle Removing causes of: –defects (errors) –delays (slowdowns) and –deviation (differences) Minimizing variability in business processes 6σ means % of output is free from defects or deviations 5-10

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Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN): drawing business processes

Sources Most of the slides are adapted from COMM 226 Business Technology Management by David M. Kroenke, Andrew Gemino, Peter Tingling, and Earl H. McKinney, Jr. 2nd Custom Edition for Concordia University (2014) published by Pearson Canada. ISBN 13: I thank Gregory Kersten and Marc-André Léger for their assistance with various slide content and exercises Other sources are noted on the slides themselves 13